Bité, which is wholly owned by Danish communications group TDC, is the second-largest mobile operator in Lithuania with more than 600,000 users. Ericsson has a close relationship with the innovative operator and has been sole supplier of its GSM/GPRS network since 1995.

EDGE triples the data capacity of GPRS and is an extremely cost-effective solution. Ericsson has been developing EDGE-capable base stations since 1995 and the RBS 2000 series is fully EDGE compatible. This makes upgrading to EDGE easy and fast, and because EDGE falls under the scope of GSM, operators don't need a separate license to offer the service.

Rimas Kalvaitis, director of marketing and sales at Ericsson Lithuania, says the investment Bité had already made in Ericsson infrastructure meant implementation was quick. "Ericsson was able to help Bité launch in under three months," Kalvaitis says. "The operator had standard Ericsson RBS 2206s, which are virtually EDGE ready, so it was just a matter of downloading software and installing the EDGE transceiver units.

Like other Baltic states, Lithuania is experiencing rapid economic growth, which is sparking an interest in data services. Mobile penetration exceeds that of fixed and more than 60 percent of the country's 3.5 million people own mobile phones. Bité has seen GPRS use increase ten-fold over the past year, and those users hungry for more bandwidth will be the main beneficiaries of EDGE. The operator estimates that EDGE will account for more than 50 percent of its GPRS revenues by 2006.

Lithuania is expected to issue WCDMA licenses later this year. EDGE is a complement to WCDMA, particularly in rural areas, and Bité is in a strong position to meet its customers' future needs. "We expect the market for advanced data services to become more mature," Jurksus says."EDGE will stimulate high-speed data use and promote the benefits of mobile 'broadband' services."

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